THE POWER TO RESTORE CONFIDENCE IN MONEY

Written on the 9 September 2015 by Paris Faint

WHEN Peter Lord discovered his mother's retirement fund was running dry following a divorce that left her without a viable financial plan, he was determined to find a way to restore her confidence in money.

From the initial experience in guiding his mum back to financial happiness, Lord developed a general desire to empower people, particularly women, to gain better control of their everyday finances.

Four years ago he created MoneyBrilliant and built the business alongside CEO Jemma Enright (pictured) into what they describe as the most effective online personal finance hub on the market.

The MoneyBrilliant mobile app works by connecting to live banking data and allowing users an instant overview of their spending and finances in one secure place.

Enright believes that while the product itself isn't entirely novel, the secret to the company's success has grown from an initial grassroots connection to the needs of their customers, alongside building a product with a clean and easy-to-use interface.

"The ability to bring finances together under one roof is not a new concept, but in some ways that's what made us work that much harder," says Enright.

"We feel like we have found success because of the fact we're not entirely new, and we have to be closer to the customer in finding out what adds value to their lives and what doesn't."

More than 250 financial services can be connected to the platform which uses leading security and banking technology to aggregate balances for bank, credit, loan, super and investment accounts.

There is also a 'safe spending' feature which allows users to track their pay cycle, receiving on-the-spot alerts and updates throughout the week.

Lord and Enright have both embraced the challenge of taking on large financial service providers, however in the interests of their customers, they believe the business is better shared than secluded.

"You hear a lot of commentary around disruption, and we are absolutely on that bandwagon, however we also have a bit more of a collaborative view in terms of working with established players and deepening the relationships with customers," says Enright.

"The ultimate goal is making a difference for our customers, and if that means working with other financial professionals then we're up for that."

This co-operative mindset was cemented when the company secured a $1.5 million investment from AMP to develop MoneyBrilliant, adding further value to cashflow solutions for customers of both companies.

"When we went through the process of conversing with AMP we were on the same page about strengthening the basic infrastructure," says Enright.

"We have very good foundations in place and we are now moving towards a number of different commercial products, one of which will be exploring the relationship with different businesses including AMP to get this product in the hands of their customers."

Lord says that while the company is still in its pre-revenue stages it will remain focused on investments and bolstering the product to meet the needs of their customers.